This invention generally relates to hinge modules and, more particularly, to a damped hinge module that can be preassembled for drop-in installation within a device.
Typically, damped hinges must be assembled during assembly of devices or other objects within which the hinges are placed. That is, the hinges themselves must be assembled in addition to assembling the devices, thereby adding potentially costly steps and time to the assembly of the devices. Additionally, if the hinges are produced by an entity other than the manufacturer of the device, the hinges are typically required to be shipped unassembled to the ultimate manufacturer of the device and assembled by the ultimate manufacturer during assembly of the devices. Such a situation can lead to problems with quality control with respect to the hinges due to the hinges being assembled by an entity other than the hinge manufacturer.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a damped hinge module that can be preassembled to allow the hinge module to be relatively easily “dropped-in” to a device by the manufacturer of the device. In this way, time and costs of assembly of the devices can be reduced and quality of the assembled hinge modules can be better controlled by the hinge manufacturer.